Door-space closure for freight cars



J. W. RUSCH.

DOOR SPACE CLOSURE FORFREIGHT CARS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6,1920.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

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I! IIIIIWMNI m r N E V N 1 JOHN W fiuscfi. 5) HIS HTTOKNEYS.

J. W. RUSCH.

DOOR SPACE CLOSURE FOR FREIGHT CARS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6,1920.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

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UNITED STATES ,PATENT OFFICE.

7 JOHN W. RUSClH, OF BUFFALO LAKE, MINNESOTA.

noon-smell cnosunn r03 FREIGHT cans.

To all whom'c't my camera Be it known that I, Join: W. RUSOH, acitizenof the' United States, residing at Buffalo Lake, in the county ofRenville and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements .in Door- Space Closures for Freight Cars; and I do herebydeclare the followin to be a full, clear, and exact description 0 theinventlon, .such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide an improved door spaceclosurefor freight cars, which closure is suitable for adapting the carto retain grain or live animals; and, to this end, my invention consistsof the novel devices and combinatlons of devices hereinafter describedand 'POlIllZBd out in the claims.

-My invention, in its preferred form, 1s illustrated in the accompanyingdrawlngs, wherein like notations refer to like parts throughout theseveral views.

In said drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the central portion of a freight car withthe outer car door removed anda portion of the side of the car brokenaway;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section on the hue 22 of Fig. 1, with someparts broken away;

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, with someparts broken away; and

Fig. 4 is a detail in horizontal cross section on the line 4-4 of Fig.l.

The car body 5 is assumedto be that of an ordinary freight car, withoutinside lining or interior walls, but with its body walls and floor soconstructed and related to each other as to be tight ,enoughto carryloose grain, such as wheat, rye, barley or oats, when so desired. Saidcar body 5 is assumed to be provided with the usual centrally locateddoor space openings 6 opposite to each other in its side walls. For,present pur-' poses, it is sufiicient to distinguish the right end andleft end door posts, respectively, by the numerals 7 and 8. To thevertical side walls of the car body, inside of the same, I secure apanel guide rack made up of a series of sections 9, of equal length,conveniently formed from boards nailed to the studding of the car andvertically spaced apart from each other to afford guide channels 10.This guide rack extends from a Specification of Letters Patent. PatentedM 14 1922. Application filed m a, 1920.. SerialNo. I

point adjacent tothe right hand door post 7 toward the right hand end ofthe car. The numerals l1 andx12 represent a series of panels adapted tospan the door opening 6, and each of which anelsis provided with a guideroller 13 working in the guide channels 10 of the guide rack andsupporting the panel members 11 partly therefrom. The lower panel 12 ismetal-sheathed, as shown, and all of the panels are lap-jointedtogether, and, to this end, the panel members 11 are made up of woodenbodies 11 with metallic lips l1 riveted thereto and projecting downwardtherefrom in position to engage the upper edges of the respectiveunderlying panels and thereby lap-joint all .of the panels together.

To the opposite or left-hand door post 8, I secure an abutment 14 withone edge projecting inward toward the center of the car beyond the innerface of the post 8, as best shown in Fig. 4. Hence, when the panels aredrawn over into their closed positlons, their ends will come, up againstthe projecting edge of this abutment 14 and there be stopped inalignment with each other, with their end portions lapping the innerface of the said left-hand post 8. It

has'already been stated that the panels 11 and 12 are of such lengththat they will span the door space 6 and they are of such length, that,when spanning the door space, their opposite ends lap the inner faces ofthe respective door posts 7 and 8.

The said panels 11 and 12 are all provided with lock lugs 15, one oneach panel, at uniform distances from the right ends of the panels, andwhich lugs travel in the guide channels 10 of the guide rack and are solocated on the panels that, when the latter are in position to span andclose the door space, the lock lugs 15 will all become verticallyalignedwith each other, at a short distance to the left of theright-hand door post 7. To the left-hand edge of this post 7 I secure along staple l6 and a gravity-acting or automatic locking bar 17, theautomatic action being secured by'the way in which these two elements 16and 17 are related to each other and the said lock lugs 15 and the ofthe staple pass, and are thereby made to loosely connect the bar 17 withthe said left-hand face of said door post 7. The weight of the bar 17will, therefore, tend to make the bar assume its lowermost and innermostposition, and when the panels are in their closed positions, the bar 17will thus, by 'gravity, move downward and inward, until stopped by thepanels, and this will be with the inner edge of the bar to the I rightof and close to the aligned lugs 15,

and will, thereby hold the panels in their closed positions. The lockingbar 17 can, of course, be moved by hand upward and outward to the limitof said guiding slots 18, and it is shown provided with a series ofholes 19, intended to register with corresponding holes in the doorpost, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and chained pins 20 areshown secured to the staple, for application to these holes 19throughholes in the staple 16 to hold the locking bar 17 in position tolock or unlock the panel, and, when unlocked, to afford the requisiteclearance for the sliding motion of the said panel.

From the foregoing description and the drawings, it must, of course, beobvious that the panels 11 and 12 are capable of being moved, eitherindependently or two or more together, into positions for spanning thedoor space 6, and that, at all times, the said panels are lap-jointedtogether, if all are moved into said closed position where they all spanthe door space 6. It also follows that this is the relation of saidpanels 11 and 12, when any two or more of the same are moved into theirclosed positions, considering the same in regular order from thelowermost to the uppermost thereof. Hence, it follows that a grain-tightclosure, of any desired height equal to or less than the height of thedoor space opening 6, may be secured.

When the car is loaded with grain, the pressure against the panels isconsiderable, making it quite difiicult to slide the panels, unless agood hold thereof can be secured. Hence, as a means for better enablingthe panels to be handled against the load of the grain,'I provide thesame with eye-lugs 21 projectin outward from near their lefthand en s ontheir vertical faces and corresponding eye-lugs 22 projecting outwardlengthwise of the car from the ends of the panels. Hence, whether intheir closed posi-. tions or their idle positions, one or the other ofthese sets of eye-lugs 21 or 22 will be available to be taken hold of byhand, or the hook of a chain with a suitable leverage device (not shown)which can be anchored at its opposite end to the car body, and therebythe requisite power be rendered available for sliding the panels againstthe heaviest pressure to which they are liable. The abutment 14 isrecessed to afford seating sockets 14 for the end eye-lugs 22, when thepanels are in their closed positions.

When'the panels are'in their idle position of the lock bar 17 is'sufiicient to bring its inner ed e in front of the projecting eyelugs22 fi xed in the ends of the panels, and thereby hold the panels fromanylongitudinal movement in their idle positions within their supportingrack, altogether out of the wa or clear from the door opening 6.

11 view of the features above described, it is, therefore, furtherobvious that, if it be desired to use this car for live animals, such ascattle, hogs or sheep, only selected members of the panels need bemoved'into position to span the door opening 6, such, for example, asalternate members thereof with the intermediate members left in theiridle positions in which relation of the panels an abundance ofventilating spaces will be afforded between the panels, at the doorspace. When alternate panels are moved to closed position it. is obviousthat the lefthand end of each being unsupported by the adjacent panelbelow, will tilt slightly downwardly and at such time the end will besupported by the staple 22 resting in the bottom of the slot or socket14. When all of the panels are closed, as indicated in dotted lines inFig. 1, the panels will be supported.

upon each other and the members 22 will not contact with the bottom ofthe sockets 14*.

Then, again, if it is desired to use the car for freight other thangrain or live animals, where no closure is needed for the door opening 6other than the outside car door, the panels are simply moved to theextreme right into their idle positions within their supporting rack andthere locked by the bar 17, where they will securely remain out of theway. until again needed for handling grain or live stock.

; The practicability and utility of my improved closure has beendemonstrated b the successful commercial usage thereo on freight cars.

It will, of course, be understood that more or less of the details ofthe illustrated structure could be changed, without de arting from thespirit of the invention. or example, the panels might be made entirelyof wood or single sections of other material and be jointed togethergrain-tight by other means than those shown, as, for example, by groovesand tongues in the co-operating edges of the jointed panels. The guiderack might also be of anyother suitable construction which would servethe function of holding and guiding the panels, as required.

What I claim is 1. A door space closure for freight-cars, suitable forretaining grain or animals,

panels adapted to span the door space;

mounted in said guide rack for movement crosswise of the door space,independently or two or more thereof while jointed together, andprovided with lock lugs adapted to be vertically aligned with each otherwhen the panels are in position to span said door space, and a lockingbar carried by the door post and adapted to automatically move toposition to engage behind said aligned lugs to hold said panels in theirsaid closed positions.

3. The combination with a car body, of a guide rack secured to theinterior thereof adjacent to one end of the car door space, andlengthwise of .the car, a plurality of panels adapted to span the doorspace, mounted in said guide rack for movement crosswise of the doorspace, independently or two or more thereof while jointed together, thefree ends of which panels are adapted to align with each other when intheir idle or open positions in said rack and which panels are providedwith lock lugs adapted to be vertically aligned with each other when thepanels are in position 130 span the door space, andJ a gravity-actionlocking bar carried by the door post adapted to engage said panelsbehind said aligned lugs to hold said panels in their closed positionsand to pass inward in front of the aligned free ends of said panels tohold the same in their open or idle positions within their supportingrack.

4. A door space closure for freight cars, suitable for retaining grainor animals, comprising a plurality of panels adapted to span the doorspace, and mounted for move-. ment crosswise of said door space, andindependently or two or more thereof while jointed together, andeye-lugs, one set on their outer vertical faces and another setprojecting from the front edges to facilitate the handling of the panelsby hand or with the aid of a power device and a door frame having aplurality of recesses therein with which the latter eye lugs co-operateto support the panels when only alternate panels are closed,substantially as described.

The combination with a car body, of a guide rack made up of a series oflongitudinal sections secured to the interior of the car lengthwisethereof adjacent to one end of the car door space and vertically spacedapart from each other to afford guiding channels, a corresponding seriesof panels adapted to span the door spac, jointed together and providedwithguide' blocks and guide rollers spaced therefrom which travel in thesaid channels of said rack, and an abutment fixed to and projecting fromthe opposite door post against which the ends of said panels abut whenin their closed position, said guide blocks also constituting lockingmeans for the panels when in closed position, substantially asdescribed.

6. The combination with a car body, of a guide rack secured to theinterior thereof adjacent to one end of the car door space andlengthwise of the car, a plurality of panels adapted to span thedoorspace and mounted in said guide rack for movement crosswise of thedoor space, independently or two or more thereof while jointed together,and provided with lock lugs adapted to be vertically aligned with eachother when the panels are in position to span said door space and thefree ends of WlllCll panels are adapted to align with each other when intheir open or idle position within said rack, and a locking barvertically supported on the door post by slot and pin connectionstherewith with the slots diagonally disposed in the bar, whereby, underthe action of gravity, said bar will engage automatically with said locklugs, when the panels are in their closed positions, and will passinward in front of the free ends of the panels, when the latter are intheir open or idle positions, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a car body, of a guide rack secured to theinterior thereof adjacent to one end of the car door space, lengthwiseof the car, a plurality of panels adapted to span the door space andmounted in said guide rack for movement crosswise of the door space,independently or two or more thereof while jointed together, andprovided with lock lugs adapted to be vertically aligned with each otherwhen the panels are in position to span said door space, a long stapleprojecting from the profile face of the door post, and a locking barvertically disposed on the said profile face of said post and providedwith inclined slots running downward and inward crosswise thereof andengaged by the ends of said staple, whereby, under the action ofgravity, the bar will automatically engage with said aligned lock lugsto hold said panels in their closed positions and pass inward in frontof the free ends of the panels to hold the Same in said guide rack, whenin their open or idle positions, substantially as described.

8. The combination with the car body of a guide rack made up of a seriesof longitudinal sections secured to the interior of the car lengthwisethereof, adjacent to one side of the car door space and arranged to formlongitudinal guide channels, a corresponding series of panels adapted tospan the door space, jointed together and provided with spaced guidingmeans which travel in the said channels and a handle on the outside ofsaid'panels', said handles being in alignment with and ada ted to entersaid channels.

9. The com ination with a car body, of a guide rack secured to theinterior thereof adjacent to one end of the car door spacelengthwise ofthe car, a plurality of panels adapted to span the door space mounted insaid guide rack for movement crosswise of the door space, independentlyor two or more thereof while jointed together, the free ends of whichpanels are adapted to align with each other, when in their open or idlepositions, and which panels are provided with lock lugs adapted to bevertically aligned with each other when the panels are in osition tospan the door space, a gravityactmg locking bar vertically su ported onthe profile face of the door post Ey slot and pin connections therewith,the slots running diagonally downward and inward crosswise of the bar,said bar being thereby adapted to automatically engage said aligned lugsto hold the panels in their closed positions or to pass in front of thefree ends of the anels to hold said panels in their open or idlepositions, and means for locking said bar in a neutral or idle positionor in either of its two panel holding positions, substantially asdescribed. I

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

JOHN W. RUSGH.

